Fastlane, the Dallas-based startup e-commerce platform for automotive dealers, will be exhibiting at the DrivingSales Executive Summit, October 22-24 at Bellagio in Las Vegas.  Driving innovation and excellence in the auto industry, the Executive Summit gathers the most progressive dealers in the country to collaborate on innovative trends and formulate business plans for the following year.  Experts from inside and outside the industry will challenge attendees to think outside the box to create value in new, exciting ways and teach tactical strategies used at dealerships across the country.

Much like the conference itself, Fastlane utilizes innovation and excellence to improve online car buying. The platform offers dealerships the ability to showcase their inventory, help customers pick out the car they want and choose other purchase components such as financing, service contracts and insurance for a seamless start-to-finish buying experience.

Though Fastlane is reinventing car buying, the platform is not eliminating the need for a middleman. “Our goal is to supplement current dealer operations by adding a unique customer experience through our online checkout. We are here to make online car buying advantageous for car dealers and customers alike by fostering new ways of engagement and creating a dynamic shopping experience for all parties. It’s the best of both worlds,” says Brandon Hall, Fastlane’s CEO.

About the conference

DrivingSales Executive Summit  keynote speakers include Jared Hamilton, CEO and Founder of DrivingSales; Kristin Hadeed, Founder of Student Maid; David Bell, Professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School; Dr. Heidi Grant, Associate Director of the Motivation Science Center; and Jay Acunzo, Host of award-winning podcast Unthinkable.

Join Fastlane and be part of the industry shifting conversation. Save your seats and register for the summit today at http://www.drivingsales.com/dses/registration/ and visit Fastlane at their booth.

About Fastlane

Fastlane, with headquarters in Dallas, Texas, is a developer of innovative e-commerce and showroom technologies for automotive dealerships. Fastlane creates value for dealers by providing them with an online checkout experience and enhancing dealer’s in-store purchase experience, giving them the power to sell more cars, be more profitable and increase overall customer satisfaction. By offering Fastlane’s turnkey purchasing solution, dealers give customers a convenient way to complete the purchase transaction while the sales team focuses on engaging with customers and building long-term relationships that last well after the car is purchased.

Fastlane’s technical integration team, based in Dallas, Texas, customizes the Fastlane e-commerce platform to meet the specific and unique needs of individual dealerships and dealer groups.

For more information about Fastlane, please visit their website,  www.fastlane.car and the

NIADA National Corporate Partner Makes Major Financial Commitment to Assist the Dealer Community Affected by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma

Oct. 10, 2017—Spireon Inc., a Diamond-level NIADA National Corporate Partner and leading provider of GPS solutions with GoldStar and other connected vehicle products, will contribute $100,000 to the NIADA Foundation’s Disaster Relief Fund to assist members of the automotive community in their recovery from the devastating effects of hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

Spireon, a longtime NIADA partner, said it selected the NIADA Foundation Disaster Relief Fund for its commitment to directly contribute to its customers and the communities they serve because it was the quickest way to help in the recovery.

“Our hearts and prayers go out to the folks whose lives have been impacted by hurricanes Harvey and Irma,” Spireon CEO Kevin Weiss said. “We know the road has not been easy over the past few weeks and we know the recovery efforts will continue for months to come.

“We are incredibly thankful for the support our customers have shown us over the years and feel very fortunate to be in a position to give back to these impacted communities.”

In addition, Weiss said Spireon will use its NSpire platform to provide the data its customers need to help get their businesses up and running, creating reports to help identify assets potentially at risk from the storms and assist dealers in assessing the next steps for their business.

“When Spireon heard the NIADA Foundation had created the Emergency Relief Fund, it quickly rallied and offered a major financial commitment to help those affected by the catastrophic storms,” said Steve Jordan, NIADA’s CEO and president of the NIADA Foundation board of trustees.

“We appreciate that Spireon understands recovery doesn’t happen overnight and we are looking forward to working with Kevin Weiss and his entire team to advance our shared goals of helping all members of the independent dealer community get back on their feet again.”

The Disaster Relief fund was established by the NIADA Foundation to provide a venue for members of the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association and its industry partners to assist fellow dealers and others in the automotive community affected by the recent storms.

The NIADA Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization that serves as the focal point of NIADA’s charitable efforts and coordinates the association’s charitable giving.

The NIADA Foundation will continue to fund hurricane relief efforts in the coming months. It is not too late to donate. For more information or to contribute, visitwww.niadafoundation.org.

About Spireon

Spireon, Inc. is North America’s leading connected vehicle intelligence company, providing businesses and consumers with powerful insights to track, manage and protect their most valuable mobile assets. The award-winning Spireon NSpire platform supports nearly 4 million active subscribers across the company’s growing suite of products for new and used car dealers, lenders and financial institutions, rental car agencies, commercial and local fleet operators, and consumers. Learn more at www.spireon.com.  

Performance is the Theme for 2017 with 12 Vehicles Making the List

LOS ANGELES (September 21, 2017) – The Automotive Video Association (AVA), which represents nearly 500 million unique viewers per year, today announced the list of finalists for the first-ever AVA Awards. The AVA award program will be hosted Saturday, September 23rd, 2017, and held at the Resort of the Mountain in Welches, Oregon. Titled “The Mountain Run,” the AVA selected High Performance as the vehicle category for 2017 pitting some of the world’s most incredible cars and SUV’s up against one another in an all-out battle for driving supremacy. The Finalists are:

Performance Car

• Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Widebody
• Nissan GT-R Nismo
• McLaren 570S Spider
• Rolls-Royce Black Badge Ghost
• Mercedes-AMG GT C Roadster
• BMW M550i xDrive
• Lexus LC 500
• Honda Civic Type-R

Performance SUV

• Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk
• Audi SQ5
• Volvo XC60 T8
• Mercedes-AMG GLC 43 Coupe

Awards competition programs are serious business in the auto industry and the AVA has developed a program that both tests out the cars capabilities, but also sets a tone of having fun while doing it. Consumers in the market place do care about horsepower numbers, but they also car about how a car will function as a daily driver. They care about how the Bluetooth works and whether the adaptive cruise control and lane departure warning actually help the driver operate the vehicle. The AVA Award program sets out to showcase all that is great about these top finalist vehicles, but also where they may be lacking in some areas. One vehicle will be crowned in each category, but the scores will be public knowledge on all vehicles.

The AVA was formed by video media outlets that span the country and this group represents the auto industry’s first-ever national media organization that focuses on video exclusively. The AVA was established to provide media outlets that specialize in video content the ability to promote their industry, which is the fastest growing segment within the spectrum of automotive media. The organization is made up of some of the most prominent and most followed automotive outlets in the country.

Over the past month, the AVA has been solicited by a handful of video media outlets to join this organization. The AVA looks forward to having more members join and to do this in a way that benefits all parties involved, the AVA is developing a solid foundation in 2017 and 2018 with its founding members. Once this association has been fully developed and two AVA Awards events have taken place, the group will gladly open its doors to new members.

The AVA has no boundaries and its content spans the globe. The new coalition helps promote the video aspect of covering the greater auto industry. The organization also isn’t limited to just card carrying journalists. The AVA has members that have a variety of backgrounds. The unifying nature is video and all video content is owned by its members.

The overarching goal of the AVA is to promote video as the primary outlet for content, but is also aimed at auto makers as well to showcase the power of video. Consumers today, look to video for their news. The combined bandwidth of the AVA is in the millions for monthly unique views. This is something no traditional media outlet can do.

Although we reported on the founding members in our last news release, the below is a quick reminder of these media groups are:

• Nik Miles (OurAutoExpert.com) – Northwest
• Roman Mica (The Fastlane Car) – Midwest
• Alex Dykes (AlexOnAutos) – Northern Cal
• Kyle Lindsey (Saabkyle04) – North Carolina
• Sofyan Bey (Redline Reviews) – DC
• Jason Fenske (Engineering Explained) – Idaho
• Matt Maranowski (Matt Maran Motoring) – Pennsylvania

For more details and information on the Automotive Video Association, please contact DRIVEN360 at 310-374-6177 or officeadmin@godriven360.com.       

Cars.com Appoints Darren Haygood as Senior Vice President of Commercial Strategy

CHICAGO, September 21, 2017 – Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) is announcing the appointment of Darren Haygood as the company’s senior vice president of commercial strategy, effective September 25, 2017. Haygood most recently served as president and chief operating officer at Transparency AI. Previously, he was executive vice president at Dealer.com.

“Cars.com is focused on creating value for our dealer partners and advertisers with strategy and intelligence that fuels their business,” said Alex Vetter, chief executive officer of Cars.com. “Darren is a recognized thought leader in the automotive industry with nearly 20 years of experience across multiple business channels. His depth of expertise in mobile attribution, automotive insights and intelligence has helped redefine digital marketing investment strategies for retail dealers in the space. We are thrilled to have Darren on our team to help us drive customer-centric innovation in this highly competitive online market”

"For almost 20 years, my career has centered around delivering innovative solutions in automotive that improve the experience for consumers and business results for dealers,” said Haygood. "Cars.com is helping the industry evolve with consumer behavior. I’ve watched as they’ve led the mobile and attribution conversations across the industry. I'm proud and excited to be joining at a time when Cars.com’s innovative products and services are fueling the evolution of the industry and empowering local dealers."

Prior to his roles at Transparency AI and Dealer.com, Haygood was the general manager at the Lokey Nissan dealership in Clearwater, Florida, from 2004-2007. He was also the director of e-commerce at Asbury Automotive Group, one of the largest, publicly traded, top 10 dealer groups in the country, from 2001-2004, and he served as regional marketing director at the Chrysler Corporation from 1997-2001.

Haygood has also served as featured speaker and contributor at automotive industry events in the US and Canada over the past several years.

About Cars.com
Cars.com is a leading online destination that helps car shoppers and owners navigate every turn of car ownership. A pioneer in automotive classifieds, the company has evolved into one of the largest digital automotive platforms, connecting consumers with local dealers across the country anytime, anywhere. Through trusted expert content, on-the-lot mobile app features, millions of new and used vehicle listings, a comprehensive set of research tools and the largest database of consumer reviews in the industry, Cars.com helps shoppers buy, sell and service their vehicles. Cars.com properties include DealerRater®, Auto.com™, PickupTrucks.com™ and NewCars.com®. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. For more information, visit www.Cars.com.

John Gottschalk Named Senior Vice President of Client Relationships

CHICAGO, September 18, 2017 -- LotLinx, the leading VIN specific digital marketing solution for car dealers, today announced that John Gottschalk has been named Senior Vice President, Client Relationships of LotLinx. Gottschalk was previously SVP of Dealer Relations & Business Development at FordDirect, a turnkey digital marketing solution for Ford Motor Company and joint venture between Ford and its franchised dealers. Gottschalk has been brought on to help manage and develop impactful communications with dealers and create new enterprise strategies and solutions for LotLinx.

An expert in client engagement with nearly 20 years experience in automotive retail and digital marketing, Gottschalk was key to expanding FordDirect’s online initiatives. During his tenure, he oversaw a variety of digital marketing services and helped create a comprehensive web presence for dealers to digitally update their existing practices. At FordDirect John was a strategic leader and member of the Executive Leadership Team focused on building sustainable growth across the enterprise, including Ford & Lincoln Dealers, Strategic Vendors and Ford Motor Company partners within all areas of the digital marketing ecosystem. Prior to FordDirect, he spent several years at the family-run McCrackin Ford dealership in Pittsburgh PA, where he led the dealership to be consistently in the Top 20 dealers within the Pittsburgh region.

The newly created position taps into Gottschalk’s deep understanding of how car dealers operate and conduct business in today’s increasingly digital world. His hiring and expertise will complement the LotLinx suite of technology products, which is built on VIN-specific, Omni-Channel campaigns that identify specific shoppers based on previous search habits and buying behavior, and has been the core of many successful dealers’ marketing plans.

About LotLinx:
LotLinx is an award-winning automotive AI company dedicated to empowering automotive dealers and the agencies that work with them, up to the OEM level. The LotLinx TURN platform can transform dealer results, dramatically increasing online engagement and net-new shoppers while eliminating digital advertising waste. Founded in 2012 and based in Chicago, LotLinx works with thousands of dealers around the country to reach over 63 million unique car shoppers per month across more than 500 digital properties.

This latest expansion makes LPS one of the biggest rideshare servicers in the country, with experience servicing three of the largest rideshare portfolios as well as other related lease portfolios.

 FORT WORTH, Texas – Sept. 13, 2017 – Loan Portfolio Servicing (LPS) today announced the latest expansion of the company’s rideshare portfolio servicing platform, making LPS one of the biggest and most experienced rideshare servicers in the nation.

Most recently, LPS was retained to service 7,000 rideshare leases belonging to two different rideshare leasing companies. Prior to those partnerships, LPS helped Uber bring its Xchange leasing program to fruition and serviced over 30,000 short-term leases through Spring 2017.

“Three years ago, this type of short-term lease product was practically non-existent. But the surging popularity of ridesharing – especially among millennials – has contributed to the need for flexible lease programs,” said Scott France, executive vice president of strategic initiatives for Innovate Auto Finance and president of LPS. “From the beginning, flexibility has been one of our core values. We seek to understand what our clients are trying to accomplish and develop strategies that support their vision. For example, when Uber approached our company to service their upstart rideshare program, we needed to modify almost all of our processes to accommodate short-term, high-touch leases. We recognized a well-timed opportunity to service these portfolios, and our company has invested significant resources toward scaling our infrastructure to support this underserved niche.”

France emphasized the expertise needed to successfully service rideshare portfolios. “They are not your average leases. We have to manage vehicle maintenance, taxes, tolls, title issues, registrations, citations and excess mileage with a frequency much higher than that of a typical lease. All in all, rideshare portfolios behave much more like rental car portfolios and require a specialized servicing infrastructure.” 

LPS has serviced high-touch rideshare portfolios for the past three years. In addition to modifying its processes and procedures, the company has invested in technology that is essential to providing quality service on this type of product.

“It’s fun and exciting to participate in the evolution of the automotive finance and lease arena,” France said. “We are at the forefront of developing viable servicing solutions that support such dynamic financing alternatives. We are always interested in what is next.”

France will speak at Used Car Week, Nov. 13-17, in La Quinta, Calif., on how to maximize returns and minimize losses from auto loan and lease portfolios in light of today’s changing markets.

For more information about LPS / Innovate’s services, contact Scott France at scott.france@innovateauto.com or (817) 471-1182.

About Loan Portfolio Servicing

Loan Portfolio Servicing (LPS) specializes in the management of auto loans and leases, with niche expertise in rideshare portfolios. The firm provides its clients with a top-tier experience in title and records management, account administration, customer care, collections, loss mitigation, repossession and remarketing management, and loss recovery.

With decades of industry experience, the LPS team has serviced more than 2 million collateralized loans across the full credit spectrum. For more information, visit www.lportsvc.com.

About Innovate Auto Finance

Founded in 2009, Innovate Auto Finance provides liquidity solutions to both franchised and independent dealers, as well as finance companies, through bulk portfolio acquisitions. Innovate’s flexible, turnkey approach, which includes a single point of contact and open, consistent communication, provides beneficial solutions for its clients.

Since its inception, Innovate has provided liquidity to its clients through the acquisitions of more than $500 million of auto finance receivables. For more information, visit www.innovateauto.com.

September 11, 2017 - Touring the showroom in an automobile dealership is one of the most important parts of the car-buying process. The ability to engage a vehicle in person in all its dimensions is often the tipping point for cementing a purchase. To better understand the influence these spaces have in the car-buying experience, eye tracking provider Tobii Pro partnered with Dx3 Canada and Toyota Canada to measure the car buyer’s journey in a showroom.

The results: car brands only have a 20-second window to influence a consumer’s opinion, and, within that window, not everything from the showroom is going to have an effect.

Here are the key findings:

• The vehicles were the star attraction, capturing more attention than touch screens, brand ambassadors, or any other test area element; participants spent about 30 seconds on average viewing the interior and exterior of the vehicles. 
• The insides of the vehicles were viewed most carefully, especially the consoles, gear shift, and instrumentation, which accounted for close to 70 percent of consumer attention. While walking around the outside, consumer eyes were focused primarily on the vehicles’ side body lines and aesthetic features.
• Millennial shoppers tended to review the same material and features as older shoppers; however, older shoppers spent more time with almost all elements of the study environment. Millennials gravitated to the interactive displays, while older shoppers viewed the textual elements of the display with greater attention.
• All promotional materials and features were seen; they captured attention but not long enough to have a significant impact. Conversely, digital screens and interactive displays had a high level of engagement and were the real eye-catchers, capturing approximately 50 percent of all attention to showroom promotional elements.
• Informational materials don’t have to be that sophisticated, but they do need to be well positioned. Among the most viewed features was a freestanding “Safety Tower” with creative collateral highlighting key safety features of the vehicles. The Tower was central and upfront in the showroom, generating increased engagement from consumers.

“When it comes to attention, brands often overestimate the level of consumer engagement that they have to work with,” said Mike Bartels, senior research director at Tobii Pro Insight. “Consumers start with a broad scan of what is out there, but then they zero in on specific things to the exclusion of everything else. In this all-or-nothing, high-stakes sales environment, it is critical that automotive marketers understand which features influence shoppers to buy and how the showroom can be optimized to make them commit. Through eye tracking, we objectively determined what registered with potential buyers, both young and old.”

How the study was conducted:

Eye tracking research experts from Tobii Pro Insight fitted 92 study participants with Tobii Pro Glasses 2, a wearable eye tracker, and asked them to explore Toyota’s interactive automotive showroom at the Dx3 conference as they would normally do when shopping for a car. The showroom included a Corolla and a RAV4 surrounded by a variety of promotional materials, digital displays, and Toyota brand ambassadors.

The glasses unobtrusively recorded what the consumers paid attention to, for how long they focused on something, and what they ignored, whether that was the vehicle’s exterior, under the hood, or a piece of promotional material. The consumers were divided into two groups: millennials and older shoppers. The collected behavioral data was analyzed to understand what elements of the vehicle and marketing materials had the biggest impact on purchase intent.

###

More information and media assets:

• Click here to download the full white paper, “Eyeing for Attention: Automotive Eye tracking analysis”
• Click here to view a video on the Tobii Pro Insight study for Dx3 Canada and Toyota Canada
• Visit the Tobii Pro Insight page for more details on the technology and research team behind the study

Contact:

Eric Mercer, Direct of Content, Dx3 Canada, Phone: 1-647-317-5764, email: emercer@dx3canada.com

Cecilia Lago Albright, PR & Communications Manager, Tobii Pro, Phone: +46 707 43 13 45, email:cecilia.albright@tobii.com

Anthony Suarez, Media Relations Manager, North of Nine Communications, Phone: +1 212-614-4331, email:anthony.suarez@nof9.com

About Dx3 Canada

Dx3 is Canada’s largest conference and trade show focused on digital marketing, digital advertising and digital retailing. It brings agencies, brands, publishers and retailers together for two days of networking and education.

Dx3 2018 is March 7-8, 2018 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, featuring more than 30 educational sessions, 100 exhibitors and 4,000 attendees from Canada's leading brands and agencies.

About Tobii Pro Insight

Tobii Pro leads the market in bringing eye tracking insight to commercial brands, researchers, and organizations. Tobii Pro Insight is the company’s team of researchers conducting attention-based studies, helping the world’s top commercial brands better understand how their products and messages can better engage with customers. Tobii Pro Insight provides venue selection, panel requirement, expertise, eye tracking hardware, analysis software, workflow, and execution. This includes small qualitative studies to broad globally-based studies. Customers include Microsoft, Google, Ipsos, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, and 18 of the top 20 global advertisers. www.tobiipro.com

About Toyota Canada Inc.

Toyota Canada Inc. (TCI) is the exclusive Canadian distributor of Toyota and Lexus vehicles. Toyota has sold over 5 million vehicles in Canada through a national network of 286 Toyota and Lexus dealerships. Toyota is dedicated to bringing safety, quality, dependability and reliability in the vehicles Canadians drive and the service they receive. TCI’s head office is located in Toronto, with regional offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Halifax and parts distribution centers in Toronto and Vancouver. Toyota operates two manufacturing facilities in Canada. Having produced more than seven million vehicles, popular Canadian models built at these facilities include Toyota RAV4, Toyota Corolla, Lexus RX 350 and RX 450h hybrid. For more information on Toyota and Toyota products, please visit: www.toyota.ca.

Caroline O’Connor

North of Nine Communications

230 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10003

O: +1.212.614.4965 M: +1 508.361.9636 E: Caroline.OConnor@nof9.com

@Nof9PR

PartCycle tapped as North American representative for industry-leading recycled auto parts Marketplace, innovative software development, and marketing efforts.

FLORENCE, Ala. (Sept. 5, 2017)—PartCycle Technologies announces it’s participation at the 2017 International Roundtable on Automotive Recycling (IRT), hosted by the Automotive Recyclers of Canada (ARC) and the Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA), in the internationally famous border city of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, Sept. 6-8, 2017.

Held every 18 months, IRT brings together leading international automotive recycler associations, industry officials, guest speakers and local auto recyclers to discuss the global auto recycling industry. PartCycle Technologies is proud to represent the United States at the 9th IRT, and present on the future of e-commerce for the industry—specifically its niche-specific Marketplace, PartCycle.com—and showcase its marketing efforts for promoting the recycled automotive industry.  

“With Canada and the US as the host countries, we are working to present North America as an industry-leader in technology, innovation, and public awareness,” says Steve Fletcher, ARC Managing Director and IRT organizer. “When developing this year’s agenda, because of its online marketplace and marketing acumen, PartCycle was an obvious choice to present the most advanced technology for selling recycled parts online, and promoting public awareness for the industry.”  

IRT’s have been a catalyst for global automotive recyclers to share information about emerging technical and regulatory trends, business opportunities, and to highlight local and industry best practices. Following the 7th IRT in Kushiro, Japan, IRT members and participating organizations defined the major tenets of the industry’s collective direction through the Kushiro Declaration, including: environmental standards and best practice, public awareness, government engagement, manufacturer support, auto recycling industry stewardship, education and training, and research information sharing.

PartCycle Technologies’ Co-Founder Andy Alonso, who will be presenting, feels IRT helps to guide the international industry forward and advance the overall goals of each participating organization.

“We are thrilled with the opportunity to present and participate in this year’s IRT,” says Alonso. “IRT is a powerful force for the industry, and we are excited to represent the U.S. and North America as leaders in software development and public awareness for the recycled auto parts industry.”

About: PartCycle.com is an online recycled auto parts Marketplace, connecting buyers who need quality used auto parts with a national network of vetted professional automotive salvage yards, through a platform that allows them to sort inventory based on their buying parameters for part price, condition and location. 

For more information, please contact Betsy Heckert, VP Communications:betsy@partcycle.com

Alexandria, VA (September 5) – The American International Automobile Dealers Association (AIADA) today released August sales figures for the international nameplate auto industry. Brands sold by America's 9,600 international nameplate franchises accounted for 55.5 percent of all new vehicles sold in the United States in August, down from 58.5 percent in July.

AutoData Corp. reports that the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) for August was 16.14 million units, compared to 17.22 million units in August 2016. Unadjusted for business days, sales of all brands were down 1.9 percent from last August and 2.7 percent for the year-to-date. Industrywide, 1,483,330 vehicles were sold in August, up from 1,415,139 in July, but down from 1,512,605 units a year ago.

"Hurricane Harvey took a toll on August auto sales, but we expect this trend to be short lived," said AIADA President Cody Lusk. "As clean up continues and consumers find themselves in the market for new vehicles, dealers are optimistic that the industry will close out the remaining months of 2017 on a high sales note."

Hurricane Harvey, which left a large swath of Texas underwater late in the month, made a dent in overall auto sales figures. Sales for international brands were down 2.6 percent from last August and 1.4 percent for the year-to-date, with brands like Hyundai (down 25.5 percent from last August), and Nissan (down 14.8 percent) taking the biggest hits. Despite the month's challenges, several international brands finished the month on a high note, including Subaru (up 4.6 percent from last August), Toyota (up 8 percent), Volkswagen (up 9 percent), and Volvo (up 4.1 percent).

International auto sales in the U.S. totaled 822,952 vehicles in August, down from 828,772 in July, but up from 816,332 vehicles in June. Asian brands occupied 46.3 percent of the August auto market, down from 49.6 percent in July and 46.8 percent in August 2016. Overall, Asian nameplate dealers sold 686,824 vehicles in August, a 2.9 percent drop from August 2016.

European brands sold 136,128 vehicles in August, up from 126,157 in July, but down from 137,773 sold in August 2016. European brands held 9.2 percent of the August U.S. auto market, up from 8.9 percent last month and 9.1 percent in August 2016. Overall August auto sales for these brands were down 1.2 percent from last August.

To read AIADA's complete coverage of August international nameplate auto sales, click here. 

### 
 

About AIADA: Established in 1970, AIADA is and continues to be the only association whose sole purpose is to represent America's international nameplate automobile franchises that sell and service the following brands: Acura, Aston Martin, Audi, Bentley, BMW, Ferrari, Genesis, Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti, Jaguar, Kia, Land Rover, Lexus, Maserati, Mazda, Mercedes, MINI, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Porsche, Rolls Royce, Scion, Smart, Subaru, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo. These retailers have a positive economic impact both nationally and in the local communities they serve, providing more than 500,000 American jobs. Visit AIADA online at www.aiada.org.